Our view: Education still key to jobs

The good news about Louisiana is the state is experiencing job growth faster than the nation.

Louisiana Workforce Commission Executive Director Curt Eysink, in town for a speech earlier this week, said statewide, “The outlook is as good as anything we’ve seen before,” he said. “We have more jobs in the state than we’ve ever had.”

Eysink said most of Louisiana is growing faster than the national rate.

“There is 1.5 percent in growth per year for the state and 1.1 percent in growth nationally,” he said. “Our lowest growth in the state will still be growing at the same level as national growth.”

Job growth is coming across all industries, but improvements still need to be made. A major issue is the number of adults who do not have high school diplomas.

“That’s going to be key, not just for now, but for the long term. With the kinds of jobs we have coming to Louisiana, we have a window of opportunity to get those people the short-term training they need.”

Filling positions with people from Louisiana is an important focus for the Workforce Commission, although there is an influx of people coming to the state for the available jobs.

“We have the largest labor force we’ve ever had in our state’s history,” Eysink said.

Workforce growth also has made a huge dent in the number of people on unemployment. In 2010, there were 65,000 people receiving unemployment benefits per week. Now, that number is down to 1,800-2,400 per week, said Eysink.

Northeastern Louisiana has not been left out of the trend of job growth.

“There are more people in the labor force, either working or looking for work, than we’ve ever had (in Northeast Louisiana),” he said.

The challenge here, as it is in the rest of the state, is making sure people are equipped with the basic skills to be able to apply for the available jobs. And the most basic is completing your education.

The editorials in this column represent the opinions of The News-Star’s editorial board, composed of General Manager and Executive Editor Kathy Spurlock, Business and Politics Editor Greg Hilburn and Senior Writer Barbara Leader.